Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty Kundra in soup over ‘casteist’ slur

Mumbai: The Andheri police registered a complaint against Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty Kundra on Saturday for allegedly insulting a scheduled caste community by using the word ‘bhangi’ on television.

The complainant, Navin Lade, the general secretary of the Rojgar Aghari Republic Party of India, has demanded that an first information report should be registered against the duo under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

A few political party workers also protested outside Khan’s Bandra residence, but were dispersed after the police intervened. One of the video clips that sparked the row shows Khan giving an interview on a Bollywood trade-related show, as part of his latest film’s promotions, Khan said that he had refused to do a particular dance move as it would make him “look like a bhangi”. The other clip, from an old interview of Shetty, captures her stating that if she dressed in a particular manner, she would “look like a bhangi”.

In his complaint Mr Lade alleged the duo “intentionally insulted and intimidated with intent to humiliate and abuse” by using derogatory comments denoting a scheduled caste community. Mr Lade said he received the clip when he was near the Andheri police station on Wednesday.

Paramjit Singh Dahiya, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 9, said the complainant had approached the Andheri police with a complaint letter on Saturday, and no FIR has been registered yet. “We will check the facts before taking any action,” he said.

Stating that he was pained by the comments, Mr Lade said, “I felt insulted and humiliated, being a member of a scheduled caste myself.”

When The Asian Age tried contacting Salman Khan, he was not available for comment.

Despite, repeated attempts, the paper could not get in touch with Shetty at the time of going to press.